While the Los Angeles Lakers were reportedly in the hunt for Klay Thompson until he ended up agreeing to a deal with the Dallas Mavericks, the Lakers' pursuit of the future Hall of Famer may not have been that serious after all.
There are reports that Lakers GM Rob Pelinka never even actually spoke with Thompson this offseason. ESPN's Nick Wright explains:
Said Wright, “The Athletic reported that Rob Pelinka never actually got Klay [Thompson] on the phone… He got his agent on the phone… [He] is like straight to voice mail. What’s going on?”
Lakers fans aren't the only ones bummed out. Klay's father, former Lakers center Mychal Thompson, said he was disappointed that his son didn't go to Los Angeles.
“I'm not feeling too much in a congratulatory mood right now,” Mychal Thompson said on SiriusXM. “You know because, I mean obviously it's Klay's decision, it's his life, he's a grown man. 34 years of age, just like we were 34 at one time Scal, Frank and our father used to give us advice and you know we would go our, choose our own path, and that's fine. That's what life is supposed to be about, but I'm really disappointed. I was hoping, hoping, as you can assess that he would be a Laker. And it was close. It came down to the Lakers and the Mavs, with the Mavs won out. But you know me, I was hoping and praying he'd finish his career with the Lakers.”
Lakers lock up LeBron James
Despite missing out so far on significant upgrades to the roster, LeBron James is not going anywhere. After opting out of his $51.4 million player option for the 2024-25 season, leading to speculation that he could entertain other offers from rival teams, LeBron has come to an agreement on a two-year, $104 million contract with the Lakers.
The second year of James' new contract contains a player option.
A return to the Lakers always seemed to be the clear choice for LeBron. The Lakers had made their intentions to see James retire with Los Angeles very clear, plus the organization recently hired JJ Redick as their new head coach after firing Darvin Ham. Redick and James have co-hosted their ‘Mind the Game' Pod together since starting the podcast earlier this year, leading to speculation that the Lakers were going to hire the former NBA vet.
LeBron will now play his seventh season with the Lakers. Since heading to Los Angeles in 2018, James put up 27.0 points, 8.0 assists, and 7.9 rebounds per game while shooting 51.3 percent from the floor. Just this past season, he shot a career-high 41.0 percent from three-point range.
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